2025 Winners

18^th Annual Greenhouse Competitions Brings Back People’s Choice Awards.

[Kingsville, ON] On May 23, 2025, R.E.A.CH. International held its annual Greenhouse Competitions including “The Hottest Tomato”,  “The Perfect Pepper”, “The Coolest Cucumber” and the “Best Berry” Competitions.  The People’s Choice awards were brought back for the first time since the pandemic, with 79 enthusiastic taste-testers chiming in to let us know whose produce they liked best.

The awards ceremony was held at Kingsville Community Church on Wednesday, May 23rd and live streamed at greenhousecompetitions.com.  The winners received the coveted Greenhouse Competition trophies and, of course, the bragging rights as the best producers in North America. Red Seal Chef Julie Myers, owner of Thyme Kitchen, had the difficult task of choosing 8 products from the 194 entries as the Chef’s Choice winners of this year’s competitions.  Chef Julie wowed the crowd gathered for the awards with dishes made from the products she chose. 

This is the 18^th year for these unique competitions that have been running since 2007 to celebrate Essex County as the largest greenhouse industry in North America. And the charity which runs the annual event uses the proceeds from the competition to sponsor over 45 children in Uganda, Africa, annually.  These sponsorships give the children and teens food, school supplies, medicine, and everything else they need to get an education and break the cycle of poverty.

Art Barron, President of R.E,A,CH. International speaks on the impact of the Greenhouse Competitions: “We just love that we can celebrate the Greenhouse Industry in Essex County with this annual event that helps in so many ways. Locally, the Kingsville Community Centre receives funds from selling donated produce to help support their amazing programs and the Gleaners pick up any leftover produce. For the villages we serve in Uganda, these competitions have helped us to raise over $275,000, which is used to provide for children’s education, building infrastructure, and enhance health and wellness.”

This year’s farm sponsor was SUNSET® /Mastronardi Produce Ltd. “Our team is excited to be part of this event recognizing excellence in greenhouse grown produce,” said Paul Mastronardi, President & CEO of Mastronardi Produce.  “The Leamington Greenhouse Competition presents a remarkable opportunity for our industry to unite in support of a great local cause in R.E.A.C.H International.  It’s always a thrill to bring home awards for our flavourful Sunset produce and I am thankful to our entire team for their dedication to consistent quality and flavour.”

On Wednesday, May 21, all entries were delivered to Kingsville Community Centre where they were numbered and sorted by volunteers and then evaluated by expert judges from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), grocery store produce managers, horticulture experts and local chefs. They judged entries with a specialized list of criteria developed by our Head Judge, Shalin Khosla.

R.E.A.CH. International, the Canadian registered child-sponsorship charity, run completely by local volunteers, has been hosting an annual event that both celebrates our local Greenhouse Fame while sponsoring some of the poorest children and families in the world.  With no staff taking salaries, the charity is one of the very few that can guarantee that 100% of donated funds will be used for the intended purposes. 

Official Results:

COOLEST CUCUMBER			Place	Score
English Cucumber
CE-671	Del Fresco Pure	Organic English Seedless Cucumbers	1st	820.5
CE-541	Nature Fresh Farms	English Cukes	2nd	761.5
CE-415	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Sunset English cucumber	3rd	753.9
Mini Cucumber
CM-979	Pure Flavor	Mini Seedless Cukes	1st	812.8
CM-812	Topline Farms	Mini Cukes	2nd	743.6
CM-678	Mucci Farms	Mini Cucumber	3rd	733.3
Cocktail  Cucumber
CC-336	Nature Fresh Farms	Lil Chills	1st	753.9
CC-753	Pure Flavor	Uno Bites	2nd	688.5
CC-791	Topline Farms	Huge Crunchers	3rd	687.7
PERFECT PEPPER			Place	Score
Red Bell Pepper
PR-316	Pure Flavor	Sweet Red Bell	1st	775.5
PR-498	Nature Fresh Farms	Organic Reddy or Not	2nd	722.5
PR-989	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Sunset Red Bell	3rd	710
Yellow Bell Pepper
PY-517	Del Fresco Pure	Sweet Rainbow Pepper	1st	816.7
PY-126	Nature Fresh Farms	Organic Mellow Yellow	2nd	776.7
PY-239	Mucci Farms	Yellow Bell Pepper	3rd	720
Orange Bell Pepper
PO-401	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Sunset Orange Bell	1st	800
PO-472	Mucci Farms	Orange Bell Pepper	2nd	780
PO-150	Nature Fresh Farms	Organic Orange You Glad!	3rd	770
Speciality Mini Pepper
PM-929	Mucci Farms	Bella Sweets – Orange	1st	743.3
PM-772	Mucci Farms	Sweet to the Point Yellow	2nd	713.3
PM-736	Mucci Farms	Sweet to the Point Red	3rd	695
Speciality Bell Pepper
PS-917	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Aloha	1st	796.7
PS-552	Nature Fresh Farms	Organic Green Bell	2nd	776.7
Speciality Long Pepper
PL-109	Nature Fresh Farms	Red Sweet Snap	1st	788
PL-452	Mucci Farms	Orange Rustico	2nd	750
PL-962	Mucci Farms	Red Rustico	3rd	745
Hot Pepper
PH-927	Nature Fresh Farms	Nature Fresh Hotties	1st	824.2
PH-274	Mucci Farms	Habanero Hot Shots	2nd	804.6
PH-864	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Shazam Shishito	3rd	740
CHEF’S CHOICE WINNERS
TM-998	Pure Flavor	Sweet Green Bite-Size Tomato
CC-791	Topline Farms	Huge Crunchers Cocktail Cucumber
TC-906	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Yelo Cocktail Tomato
SS-217	Pure Flavor	Sweet Blooms2 Strawberry
PH-864	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Shazam Shishito Hot Pepper
PS-917	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Aloha Specialty Bell Pepper
SB-190	Nature Fresh Farms	Nature Fresh Raspberries
PL-455	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Wild Wonders Orange
BEST BERRY COMPETITION			Place	Score
Specialty Berry
SB-174	Pure Flavor	Sweet Blooms Blackberries	1st	854
SB-369	Nature Fresh Farms	Nature Fresh Blackberries	2nd	787.5
SB-855	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	XL Blueberries	3rd	770
Strawberry
SS-343	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Dreamberry	1st	875
SS-454	Mucci Farms	Smuccies	2nd	767.5
SS-941	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Lolliberry	tie	767.5
HOTTEST TOMATO COMPETITION			Place	Score
Beefsteak Tomato
TB-666	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Sunset Beefsteak #1	1st	835.4
TB-249	Del Fresco Pure	DelFresco Pure Beefsteak Tomato	2nd	741.7
TB-141	Nature Fresh Farms	Nature Fresh Beefsteak	3rd	738.3
TOV Tomato
TV-972	Del Fresco Pure	Tomato on the Vine	1st	822.2
TV-292	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Sunset TOV #1	2nd	800
TV-827	Mucci Farms	Prova	3rd	783.3
Roma
TR-749	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Sunset Roma #1	1st	779.1
TR-585	Pure Flavor	Rocco Reds	2nd	762.5
TR-269	Nature Fresh Farms	Sauci	3rd	743.8
Cocktail
TC-612	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Delano	1st	929.2
TC-906	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Yelo	2nd	838.9
TC-839	Nature Fresh Farms	Cheers 2.0	3rd	825
Speciality
TS-836	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Emerald	1st	958.4
TS-290	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Aloha Tomato	2nd	893.8
TS-466	Nature Fresh Farms	Hiiros	3rd	891.7
Bite-Size
TM-881	Red Sun Farms	Sweet pops	1st	902.8
TM-272	Pure Flavor	Cloud 9	2nd	895.8
TM-902	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Lolli Bomb	3rd	894.4
PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINNERS
CC-701	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Nano q	CUCUMBER
SB-190	Nature Fresh Farms	Nature Fresh Raspberries	BERRY
TM-105	Red Sun Farms	Purple Cherry	TOMATO
PO-800	Pure Flavor	Sweet Orange bell	PEPPER
OVERALL BEST IN COMPETITION			Place	Score
Best Cucumber
CE-671	Del Fresco Pure	Organic English Seedless Cucumbers	1st	820.5
Best Pepper
PH-927	Nature Fresh Farms	Nature Fresh Hotties	1st	824.2
Best Berry
SS-343	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Dreamberry	1st	875
Best Tomato
TS-836	Sunset Mastronardi Produce	Emerald	1st	958.4